A number of high profile business minds and celebrities will be at the American Airlines Arena this Thursday through Saturday as they support local Miami Beach residents, JR and Loren Ridinger, who own the internet company Marketamerica.com and will welcome over 25,000 people to Miami to learn about the company’s newest product launches and the economic opportunity offered to its independent business owners. Celebrities in attendance will include Eva Longoria Parker, Emilio Estefan, Scott Barnes, Scottie Pippen and Alonzo Mourning. The show will close Saturday at 6:30 pm with a performance by Grammy award winning artist Alejandro Sanz. Market America has just released a small number of tickets to this sold-out conference for $195 for all three days.  For more information and to purchase tickets, email media@marketamerica.com.

Friends with Benefits

“Friends of New World Symphony,” will showcase Bach on Saturday, January 30, at the Lincoln Theater.  The “Authentic Incarnations” will highlight Bach and offer young patrons an introduction to the classics by the 87 New World Symphony Fellows.   This event is a taste of what’s to come at the New World Symphony gala February 13. The after party takes place at a private home on Fisher Island, A.K.A., “La Isla Bonita” immediately after the concert, featuring creative cocktails courtesy of GREY GOOSE Vodka, hors d’oeuvres, and a fusion of music by saxophonist, Jason Kush and DJ Roberto Castillo.  The event is for members of “Friends of New World Symphony,” a group of young professionals with a mission to support the arts.  “Friends” annual memberships range in price from $150 to $2500 and offer an in-depth experience with the country’s most talented musicians.  For membership information, contact Stacey Glassman, stacey.glassman@nws.edu.

Pre-Game Show

The Eats Beats Cleats Gridiron Festival presented by Comcast will kick off on Thursday, Feb. 4 on Lincoln Road, featuring more than 75 current and former NFL All Stars, fan experiences and VIP events throughout the weekend.   Expect to see NFL greats, who will be signing autographs, and national sports exhibits, including the Heisman, Super Bowl, World Series, IRL and NASCAR trophies, which will be in one place for the first time ever. 
Weekend and daily passports are available ($85-$350) by going to www.ebcmiami.com.  The four-day festival presented by Comcast and sponsored by Lincoln Mercury, LandShark Lager, AirTran Airways, Bacardi, Gallo Wines, Coca Cola, Cundy Insurance, Miami magazine and Lincoln Financial Radio is set to dominate Lincoln Road the entire weekend. All proceeds benefit the Gridiron greats Assistance Fund.

Also on Thursday, February 4, Miami Dolphins running back Ricky Williams is hosting a “Haiti Relief Effort” event from 7:00 to 10:00 p.m. at his restaurant, Proof Ocean Drive, in the former Table 8 space. The Ricky Williams Foundation, a not-for-profit charity led by Ricky Williams supporting national and international communities in need, has joined forces with JBF Worldwide, NFL Players Association and the Clinton-Bush Haiti Fund to raise money and encourage relief efforts for the numerous victims suffering from the island’s recent and catastrophic earthquake. Guests will enjoy dinner prepared by Proof Ocean Drive’s executive chef Ivan Dorvil, cocktails and live music. Football fans will also be able to bid on items such as Super Bowl XLIV tickets, jerseys worn by their favorite players, genuine NFL memorabilia and a luxury time piece during the event’s silent and live auction. Guests are asked for a minimum donation of $100 to attend this event. Proof Ocean Drive is located inside the Z Ocean Hotel at 1458 Ocean Drive, South Beach.

Our fascination, O.K., OBSESSION with dim sum began while watching Eat Drink Man and Woman, the foodie cult flick of the 90s.  And with the exception of samplings at the South Beach Wine and Food Festival (coming our way in just a few weeks), great dim sum has been tough to find.  Well happy days are here, thanks to Hakkasan’s new weekend dim sum lunch menu.  Not since the scrumptious dim sum delights we had at the award-winning Ton Kiang in San Francisco, have we enjoyed such perfectly prepared, authentic dim sum.  Hakkasan, which boasts a sleek yet cozy atmosphere serves up some of our favorite (in a seemingly endless array) delicious dishes, which include:  the prawn cheung fun, siew long bun, turnip cakes, and the French beans, to name a few.

In addition to the dumplings, you can also order several different roasted items (duck, chicken, pork), congee (rice porridge soup), and a few choices of noodle dishes, such as the pulled mushroom noodles and one of the best won-ton soups this side of Shanghai.  And the prices are not bad, ranging from $6-$22.  Hakkasan is hands down the best place to have dim sum in Miami, combining the “high class opium den” look and feel of the London original with top-notch service and dishes prepared to perfection.

Nikki Beach is known for many things: the serious Sunday afternoon-into-Monday morning parties for South Beach locals; sun kissed, bikini-clad bodies lounging about from Marbella to St. Tropez to Koh Samui; claiming the #1 spot in Travel Channel’s “World’s Sexiest Beach Bar” list…but fine dining- not so much.  Well it’s time to add exquisite dining experience to Nikki Beach’s offerings.   Executive chef, Gerry Gnassi’s gourmet menu is available for lunch and dinner, and includes sushi, including a Maine Lobster Roll with mango and tobiko caviar, wood-oven gourmet pizzas, prime steaks and fresh seafood.  Our top pick was the 2 ½ pound Australian lobster tail, which we dubbed the “Jurassic Park lobster.”  We seriously wouldn’t want to run into this thing in the ocean but it was gloriously grilled on our plate, even though we could barely eat ¼ of it.  Other favorites included the giant prawns and Chateaubriand for two (more like 4).  The menu revamp is part of a comprehensive overhaul of the entire property, and definitely worth checking out.

On January 12, Clo and Charles S. Cohen, owners of DCOTA (Design Center of the Americas), hosted a private grand opening gala to celebrate the launch of the first ever DCOTA DesignHouse.  A crowd of 400 social and design luminaries from Miami to Palm Beach gathered to view the cutting edge designs and to toast the 2010 Stars of Design:  Sam Robin, Max Strang, Carlos Betancourt, Nicholas Varney, Jeff Blakely, Robin Hill, Laura Paresky Gould and Vladimir Kagan, who were honored on the same evening.  Among those in attendance for this fabulous event: Charles S. Cohen, Erika and Vladimir Kagan, Robin Hill, Brad Ford, Brian Patrick Flynn, Sophie Donnellson, Julia Noran, Norma Quintero, Tina Carlo, James W. Murphy, Nicole Lozano, Diane and Aristotle Aris, Gary Hutton, James Wall, D. Ashlee Harrison, Jilian Sanz, Irvin Lippman, Diane Sepler, Jeff Blakely, Phoebe Howard, Bonnie Barnett and Robert Kagan, Jeff and Gina Sabean, Katie Vecellio, Iran Issa Khan, Marnie Goldberg, Michael Kirkland and Sandy Krakoff.

This gala benefited three outstanding museums, representing each of the three counties of South Florida, The Norton Museum of Art, Palm Beach; the Fort Lauderdale Museum of Art, Broward; and the Vizcaya Museum, Miami/Dade. The entire run of the DesignHouse will also benefit these outstanding cultural institutions.  DesignHouse will be open daily, Monday through Friday, from 10:00 a.m. through 4:00 p.m., through June 11, and select Saturdays throughout the run (Saturday, February 6- Saturday March 6, and April 10).

“Luxury porn” tome, Ocean Drive magazine, celebrated its 17th anniversary at the Delano on Thursday night, with a bash hosted by Niche Media CEO, Jason Binn and Kim Kardashian, who, incidentally, was in the seventh grade when the magazine ran its first issue.  The gorgeous, Mia Moretti mixed the music while A-listers and their “+10s” wandered around the pool area hoping for a brush with celebrity, for which Ocean Drive parties are well-known. Read the rest here »

Ultra-hip, trendy hotspot, Cafeina, named for its caffeine-infused liquors and specialty cocktails, is our latest, favorite hang-out, located deep in the heart of Wynwood (you won’t find it unless you are consciously looking -we typically use landmarks such as the overturned truck and funky green and red patterned building to know we’re on the right track).

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